I was a former senior manager at KPMG and since 1994 the owner of the Marks Group PC, a 10 person customer relationship management consulting firm based outside Philadelphia. I've written six small-business management books, most recently "The Manufacturer's Book of List" and “In God We Trust, Everyone Else Pays Cash: Simple Lessons From Smart Business People.” Besides Forbes, I daily for The Washington Post and weekly for Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine and the Huffington Post monthly for Philadelphia Magazine. I am an unpaid contributor to Forbes. I make no compensation from the number of people who read what I write here. Follow me on Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In.

12/12/2011 @ 7:25AM780,159 views

If I Were A Poor Black Kid

President Obama gave an excellent speech last week in Kansas about inequality in America.

“This is the defining issue of our time.” He said. “This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and for all those who are fighting to get into the middle class. Because what’s at stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, secure their retirement.”

He’s right. The spread between rich and poor has gotten wider over the decades. And the opportunities for the 99% have become harder to realize.

The President’s speech got me thinking. My kids are no smarter than similar kids their age from the inner city. My kids have it much easier than their counterparts from West Philadelphia. The world is not fair to those kids mainly because they had the misfortune of being born two miles away into a more difficult part of the world and with a skin color that makes realizing the opportunities that the President spoke about that much harder. This is a fact. In 2011.

I am not a poor black kid. I am a middle aged white guy who comes from a middle class white background. So life was easier for me. But that doesn’t mean that the prospects are impossible for those kids from the inner city. It doesn’t mean that there are no opportunities for them. Or that the 1% control the world and the rest of us have to fight over the scraps left behind. I don’t believe that. I believe that everyone in this country has a chance to succeed. Still. In 2011. Even a poor black kid in West Philadelphia.

It takes brains. It takes hard work. It takes a little luck. And a little help from others. It takes the ability and the know-how to use the resources that are available. Like technology. As a person who sells and has worked with technology all my life I also know this.

If I was a poor black kid I would first and most importantly work to make sure I got the best grades possible. I would make it my #1 priority to be able to read sufficiently. I wouldn’t care if I was a student at the worst public middle school in the worst inner city. Even the worst have their best. And the very best students, even at the worst schools, have more opportunities. Getting good grades is the key to having more options. With good grades you can choose different, better paths. If you do poorly in school, particularly in a lousy school, you’re severely limiting the limited opportunities you have.

And I would use the technology available to me as a student. I know a few school teachers and they tell me that many inner city parents usually have or can afford cheap computers and internet service nowadays. That because (and sadly) it’s oftentimes a necessary thing to keep their kids safe at home than on the streets. And libraries and schools have computers available too. Computers can be purchased cheaply at outlets like TigerDirect and Dell’s Outlet. Professional organizations like accountants and architects often offer used computers from their members, sometimes at no cost at all.

If I was a poor black kid I’d use the free technology available to help me study. I’d become expert at Google Scholar. I’d visit study sites like SparkNotes and CliffsNotes to help me understand books. I’d watch relevant teachings on Academic Earth, TED and the Khan Academy. (I say relevant because some of these lectures may not be related to my work or too advanced for my age. But there are plenty of videos on these sites that are suitable to my studies and would help me stand out.) I would also, when possible, get my books for free at Project Gutenberg and learn how to do research at the CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia to help me with my studies.

Is this easy? No it’s not. It’s hard. It takes a special kind of kid to succeed. And to succeed even with these tools is much harder for a black kid from West Philadelphia than a white kid from the suburbs. But it’s not impossible. The tools are there. The technology is there. And the opportunities there.

In Philadelphia, there are nationally recognized magnet schools like Central, Girls High and Masterman. These schools are free. But they are hard to get in to. You need good grades and good test scores. And there are also other good magnet and charter schools in the city. You also need good grades to get into those. In a school system that is so broken these are bright spots. Getting into one of these schools opens up a world of opportunities. More than 90% of the kids that go to Central go on to college. I would use the internet to research each one of these schools so I could find out how I could be admitted. I would find out the names of the admissions people and go to meet with them. If I was a poor black kid I would make it my goal to get into one of these schools.

Or even a private school. Most private schools I know are filled to the brim with the 1%. That’s because these schools are exclusive and expensive, costing anywhere between $20 and $50k per year. But there’s a secret about them. Most have scholarship programs. Most have boards of trustees that want to give opportunities to kids that can’t afford the tuition. Many would provide funding for not only tuition but also for transportation or even boarding. Trust me, they want to show diversity. They want to show smiling, smart kids of many different colors and races on their fundraising brochures. If I was a poor black kid I’d be using technology to research these schools on the internet, too, and making them know that I exist and that I get good grades and want to go to their school.

And once admitted to one of these schools the first person I’d introduce myself to would be the school’s guidance counselor. This is the person who will one day help me go to a college. This is the person who knows everything there is to know about financial aid, grants, minority programs and the like. This is the person who may also know of job programs and co-op learning opportunities that I could participate in. This is the person who could help me get summer employment at a law firm or a business owned by the 1% where I could meet people and show off my stuff.

If I was a poor black kid I would get technical. I would learn software. I would learn how to write code. I would seek out courses in my high school that teaches these skills or figure out where to learn more online. I would study on my own. I would make sure my writing and communication skills stay polished.

Because a poor black kid who gets good grades, has a part time job and becomes proficient with a technical skill will go to college. There is financial aid available. There are programs available. And no matter what he or she majors in that person will have opportunities. They will find jobs in a country of business owners like me who are starved for smart, skilled people. They will succeed.

President Obama was right in his speech last week. The division between rich and poor is a national problem. But the biggest challenge we face isn’t inequality. It’s ignorance. So many kids from West Philadelphia don’t even know these opportunities exist for them. Many come from single-parent families whose mom or dad (or in many cases their grand mom) is working two jobs to survive and are just (understandably) too plain tired to do anything else in the few short hours they’re home. Many have teachers who are overburdened and too stressed to find the time to help every kid that needs it. Many of these kids don’t have the brains to figure this out themselves – like my kids. Except that my kids are just lucky enough to have parents and a well-funded school system around to push them in the right direction.

Technology can help these kids. But only if the kids want to be helped. Yes, there is much inequality. But the opportunity is still there in this country for those that are smart enough to go for it.

Editor’s note — This post has generated an enormous amount of feedback here on Forbes and across the web. Here are a few of those responses:

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Mr. Marks – how does an inner city gets access to technology? Have you seen the state of technology available in inner city schools? Or at the lowest-of-the-economic-barrel homes? How do you get help from guidance counselors when they are either absent or tell you you will never be anything because you are Black or Puerto Rican or whatever? These are no exaggerations by the way.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe the chances for upward mobility still exist, and that good grades are a necessary condition. But they are not sufficient. If you had dropped unrealistic suggestions like “use technology”, your article would have had a more realistic feeling to it.

For a person in such poor conditions, usage of technology is a must to progress. But that is what I call a TBU: “true but useless”. It is not an actionable piece of information.

It’s almost like saying “get a job” to the unemployed, or telling Gilligan to eat something other than coconuts and fish. You can’t simply tell the most dispossessed kids “to use technology”. You might as well tell them to go eat cake!

Nope. Sorry. You’re looking at an entire nation FILLED with college graduates who can’t find work, and high school students who are competing for jobs with those who are massively overqualified.

While some of what you say MAY work for a TINY percentage of poor, disadvantaged kids, it is NOT a solution and in many ways is a disservice to those populations who struggle.

You are assuming that only the brightest, most driven, articulate and sophisticated kids MIGHT be able to overcome ENORMOUS challenges with the fortitude you DO NOT expect from regular upper and middle class folk. It’s ridiculous.

I’m sorry, but I have seen with my own eyes what the old boys’ networks have created, and let me tell you – it is NOT hard work. The children of the rich and connected get into amazing schools with mediocre grades. They are GIVEN positions they do NOT deserve. They go on to vote Republican and look down on the poor.

Think about those freaking BAILOUTS for chrissake. Did those CEOs and highly educated/supposedly intelligent, driven, talented executives make good decisions? NOPE. They ran crying to the government for a bailout and now they are looking down their noses at the great unwashed, as always.

Why don’t you write an article about how THEY ought to work their assess off to save their companies – and avoid melting down the world’s economic system – instead of insinuating that most poor kids just aren’t trying hard enough?

Also – you DO know that the schools the poor attend are bare bones, with the worst teachers, facilities and most likely NO guidance counselors, yes?

Please go and spend time with actual poor families for a change instead of writing fairy tales.

Forbes, Mr. Marks….. Brilliantly written piece!!! I am a middle-aged black man, that does see the reality of opportunity in light of adversity, inequality and ignorance… Make sure some how not just the Forbes readers are privy to this enlightening article….. Once again Thank You Mr. Marks for sharing!!! (For sharing is caring!!!)

Yours is a great comment. The reality is that these kids cannot succeed, regardless of technology available, without human intervention… in the form of a capable parent, a teacher who takes them under their wing, or a mentoring program. As a former “poor kid,” I can tell you that those same things were available to me as once of the poorest kids in the school districts I attended, but unless a parent or mentor points them out, or helps you shut out the day-to-day struggle in your own life, you’ll never partake of them.

True which is what I wish was mentioned in this article. It would be lovely if instead of sitting back and looking down on people from their computers, people like Mr. Marks would take their message directly to the kids. It is not always a lack of intelligence but a lack of people pushing them to do their best and realize that they’re life doesn’t have to lead to a dead end that keeps these kids from succeeding.

So…when is the author going to lead a fundraising effort to purchase these computers and pay for the monthly internet service fees? And…are they going to sponsor computer classes to teach the children and their parents how to use them if they don’t already know how? Who is going to transport them to and from these classes?

Trixie, I agree with you 1000%. I grew up working class and was raised by grandparents who did not know how to push me academically. If it were not for my coaches and teachers, I would not know how to make sense of all the things available to me. Matter of fact, I would not have had to guts to believe those things could make a difference in my life.

It’s not sharing. Sharing is providing something you have to people who don’t have it. Marks tells “kids” how to get into a good high school so his target population is 10-12 years old. Since poor black kids elementary and middle grades children don’t have much access to Forbes and wouldn’t think to look search it for educational advice for individuals, there’s not much chance of his words reaching people who might be able to benefit from them.